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August 30, 2011

Research Reports at EAJS

Takuji Hanada (PD at this center) and Makoto Tanaka (doctoral student at this university) participated in the 13th International Conference of EAJS held from August 24th to 27th at Tallinn University in the Republic of Estonia.

Mr. Tanaka, representing our project, reported its research contents with the title “Heian Aristocrats and Natural Environment: Michi (Way) and Aristocratic Society in Heian-kyo.” Hanada also reported the progress of research that utilizes GIS with the title “An Analysis of Battles in Medieval Kyoto Utilizing GIS.”

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We succeeded in exciting considerable interest in the use of GIS in the study of Japanese history among the participants, receiving inquiries from foreign researchers as well.

June 15, 2011

Lectures at a Seminar Offered by Princeton University

In the third and fourth periods on June 15th, we presented our research project to the students visiting from Princeton University in the United States. We also devised the style of the class to make it suitable to the occasion.

First, in the third period, we had a small-scale class (Study on Japanese Culture IV) for about ten students who have participated in the seminar offered by Princeton University at this university (Comparative Literature, escorted by Professor Thomas Hare) and two graduate students from APU. In the first half, Associate Professor Aimi Sako of this office introduced her research in an ample manner with the title “The Behavior Patterns of the Aristocracy in the Heian Period,” capturing the interest of the students. In the second half, Professor Takao Sugihashi delivered a lecture entitled “An Introductory Lecture to Professor Collcutt’s Lecture – On the Iwakura Embassy Dispatched to the U.S.A. and Europe by the Meiji Government in 1871, and the On-the Spot Research on It.”

Following these lectures, the students of the seminar attended a class in the fourth period (A Relay Lecture “The Torrent of Japanese Culture”). Coincidentally enough, the lecturer of the day was Professor Martin Collcutt at Princeton University. He provided a lecture in Japanese entitled “The Iwakura Mission in the United States: Focusing on Their Arrival in San Francisco and the Welcome that They Received.” The photos show a couple of scenes from the class. Participants exchanged comments in Japanese and English, working to deepen mutual understanding. In the discussion at the end of the class, the interests and characteristics of the students at this university, the general audience, and the students of the seminar were highlighted respectively.

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(Both photographs have been provided by Yomiuri Shinbun.)

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